Follow Us!

In Win Commander 850W Power Supply Review

Closer Look:

I have to say that this is the first green coloured power supply I have seen but, in line with the military theme, what other colour could it be? The matte dark green paint is slightly textured and I have to say it does look good. Tied up neatly round the back is the only hard wired cable on the Commander 850W, the 20+4-pin motherboard cable. In my opinion the ATX12V/EPS12V cable should be hard wired as this cable is used in the vast majority of installations and there is no need to make it modular.

The rear panel displays the exhaust grill, along with IEC main input, a main on/off switch and the modular cable connector panel on the front. This is the first time I've seen dust/protection caps on all the modular cable sockets. The modular cable sockets, although you can't really see it in the photograph, are colour coded. Red for PCI-E power and black for peripheral power, along with an indication of which 12V rail is utilised.

On the side of the power supply, in the packing crate font, there is the In Win logo, power supply wattage, mains input specification, and small pictograms depicting some of the power supply features. The other side of the power supply is blank but I feel it should be the same as the other side so that it's visible from both sides, should anyone want to show it off.

Large 140mm black seven bladed fan is used for the cooling, complete with a matte, black grill. The opposite face contains a black specification label with grey writing.

Below are some photographs of the hard wired 20+4-pin motherboard connector and the full set of modular cables. The PCI-E power cables, as previously mention, have red plugs to match the red sockets on the power supply.

The 140mm seven bladed fan is by GP (D14BH-12 12V 0.7A) and comes complete with a clear plastic baffle to direct the air flow were it's needed.

When I first saw the board in the In Win Commander 850W I thought I'd seen it somewhere before, and upon investigation it looks very similar to the board used in the Corsair TX750W. It's by the same manufacturer, CWT Co. Ltd, and apart from using a different heatsink design I'm almost sure it is the same board. There may, of course, be some other upgrades, which I will not see without a complete strip down, or possibly the heatsink design change may be enough to enable the higher power output. We will see.

The electrolytics with visible markings were of the more acceptable 105°C rating.

The military theme of the Commander 850W is definitely different, but I feel it needs to perform well if it's going to sell. It's a well built unit with electronics that I have previously found to be an excellent performer in the Corsair TX750W, will the extra 100W make a difference? Lets find out.